Journalists accreditation to cost Rs500

Karachi
The Sindh government on Monday introduced Rs500 fee for the issuance of accreditation cards by its information department for journalists in the province.
According to a handout issued, Rs500 will be charged as annual fees for issuing the accreditation cards and the challan for it will have to be submitted to the National Bank of Pakistan.
Working journalists and media persons in the province will for the first time pay a fee for getting accreditation from Sindh government’s information department, otherwise considered a basic right for getting certain due privileges and facilitation from government agencies in the line of duty.
Interestingly enough, the recently held meetings of provincial accreditation committee, which formalised the decision to introduce the fee system for issuing accreditation cards, was told by Sindh information secretary Dr Zulfiqar Ali Shalwani that his department was fully committed for improving working conditions for journalists working in the province.
The meeting decided that the information department will not issue accreditation cards to journalists who were also engaged in government service.
Only those associated with media organisations on a regular basis will be issued accreditation cards and the accreditation committee formed for the purpose will not accept any sort of pressure from any quarters.
The information secretary directed the committee members to take due steps to issue accreditation cards in process as soon as possible and media could performs its duties without any hindrance.
The News tried to contact Shalwani but despite several calls he was not available for comment.